Death and Other Details is a Hulu flop – here’s our pick of 3 whodunnit series with many more intriguing twists
Hulu’s new murder mystery, Death and other detailsisn’t getting the kind of reviews Hulu was hoping for. Paste magazineone of the few positive reviewers, says it’s smart and fun, but even that praise is tempered by the fact that it “clearly capitalizes on the success of Knives out And Only murders”.
Other critics don’t care. TIME says it is “going down like the Titanic… (it is) a generic title for a derivative whodunit… It has neither the cozy charm of Only murders nor the savage humor of The White Lotus And Succession”. RogerEbert.com says that after a promising start, “you can almost see it Death and other details we’re out of ideas…maybe the real mystery is how we’re going to solve this bloated TV era.”
It’s fair to say there are a lot of murder mysteries streaming right now – The Hollywood Reporter lists a few, and it’s a big list – but that doesn’t mean the genre doesn’t have gems, even if Death and other details doesn’t seem to be one of them. Here are three to stream that won’t disappoint.
Only murderers in the building
With three seasons left and a collective 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, this is the cream of the crop of murder mysteries, with a cast including Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez and Meryl Streep. It’s about a bunch of true crime obsessives who come face to face with a real crime, and the first season has a perfect score of 100% on the review site. If Thrillist says: “What keeps you addicted Only murders in the building is that it’s as much a mystery as it is a comedy.
Only murderers in the building is also streaming on Disney Plus in the UK and Australia.
The other black girl
Based on the bestseller by Zakiya Dalila, The other black girl is a smart take on race in the workplace and features Sinclair Daniel as Nella, the only black girl in an all-white publishing house – a hire that seems to be more about checking a diversity box than any real commitment to equity or equality in the workplace. When a second black girl, Hazel, is hired, it quickly becomes clear that something is wrong – and something turns out to be horrifying. The guard say: “The other black girl is part satirical ‘white ignorance’ comedy, part horror, a story about why we code-switch.” It is not always a comfortable watch, but it is an exciting watch with serious things to say about it.
The other black girl is also streaming on Disney Plus in the UK and Australia.
Sleepy Hollow
Based on the legendary story by Washington Irving (it’s a story whose headless horseman traumatized me as a child), new Gothic life is breathed into by Tim Burton. Ichabod Crane is a police officer sent to the hamlet of the same name to investigate a series of murders rich it is “probably the most beautiful horror film ever made. And also a great piece of action film.” It is “a richly imagined gothic horror story featuring Burton and (Johnny) Depp at their most gloriously eccentric.”
Sleepy Hollow is also streaming on Disney Plus in the UK and Australia.